Can You Ever Forgive Me?Review

Share.

One of Melissa McCarthy's best performances.

By Witney Seibold

Lee Israel, as she is depicted in director Marielle Heller's Can You Ever Forgive Me?, only liked four things in life: Writing, Dorothy Parker, drinking, and her cat. If you weren't one of those things, then she had no time for you and would probably lazily insult you for standing in her way. Israel, sensitively portrayed by Melissa McCarthy, was a misanthrope of an all-too-recognizable order, frequently eschewing human company and hurling cusses at the people she did find herself next to.

All between slugs of whiskey, of course. Early in the film, Israel barges into the office of her disapproving agent (Jane Curtin) to angrily demand an advance, but mostly to lambaste Tom Clancy (seen as a smug partygoer in an earlier scene) for being more successful than she. Her agent points out that she is caustic and unlikable and writes biographies no one wants to read. Her agent is right. Israel lives in squalor and poverty and desperation, taking comfort in the caustic and biting wit of people like Noël Coward.

Israel was also once busted for running an extended scheme of letter forging. In dire straits, Israel took to writing personal letters in the style of her favorite authors – complete with forged signatures – and selling them to local bookstores, passing them off as the genuine article. When the FBI eventually stopped her racket, she has forged over 400 letters. She eventually, after probation, wrote an autobiography about her crimes, on which Heller's film is based.

The great achievement of Can You Ever Forgive Me? is that Israel is wholly recognizable and sympathetic. She's mean-spirited and private and operated behind a wall, refusing to let people in, save for the flamboyant shoplifter Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant in an Oscar-worthy turn), who knows nothing about literature, but whose ramshackle, dandyish confidence she could not resist. The filmmakers cannily give us a peek through Lee's walls to see the wounded artist within. She was someone with genuine talent and, as with all people, a need to be loved. If only her abrasive personality – and open disregard for the law when it came to committing hundreds of counts of fraud – didn't consistently get the better of her.

Exit Theatre Mode

Can You Ever Forgive Me? is no apologia, however. The protagonist is not here to be redeemed or even to be liked. But the director and screenwriters (noted director Nicole Holofcener and Tony winner Jeff Whitty) do have a soulful regard for an author who, despite it all, warrants respect. The details of Israel's crimes are indeed covered – we see that she eventually took to stealing genuine manuscripts from library archives and replacing them with her own forgeries – but it's when we see her at home, frustrated with overdue bills and livid at the foibles of humanity, that she comes to life as a companionable human being. When Lee has a pseudo-romantic connection with a shy bookstore owner named Anna (Dolly Wells), we even see that a heart beats somewhere deep inside of her.

The makers of Can You Ever Forgive Me? also have a deep abiding love for literature and wit, similar to Israel's. Indeed, almost to a fault; they assume that the audience is as enthused about Dorothy Parker as they are. If you are unfamiliar with Parker or with Noël Coward or Tallulah Bankhead or Lillian Hellman – which many younger audience members may indeed be – then much of Can You Forgive Me? may seem frustratingly opaque. We don't need biographies, per se, but a little time to luxuriate in their prose would let everyone appreciate the talent it took for Israel to emulate them (Regardless, I would encourage any young readers who aren't familiar with Dorothy Parker to crack open a volume. You'll only enjoy what you find).

One may also be frustrated by Can You Ever Forgive Me?'s tendency to forgo the expectedly salacious approach to Israel's crimes. The film is perhaps less about her transgressions and more about her personality, and that may leave some viewers – ones who crave a heist movie-style procedural – feeling antsy. I would have appreciated a more detailed deep-dive into the lingo and mechanics of celebrity letter collectors than we get. This is, however, a minor quibble from a critic who happens to adore “shop talk” in movies.

McCarthy and Grant give the kind of performances that will indeed be talked about come awards season, and perhaps deservedly so. This is some of the most sensitive work to come from McCarthy, who could have easily allowed Israel to become an object of comic mockery, and Grant has been a powerful player for decades, stretching all the way back to cult hits like How to Get Ahead in Advertising and 1987's Withnail and I. Seeing them banter is a calming delight.

The Verdict

Melissa McCarthy gives one of her best performances in a surprisingly relatable story about a criminal misanthrope with a heart beating deep inside her.